Mind Set Changing

Well this week is all about the changing mind set.  Tomorrow is weigh day, but I am more excited about the joy I have experienced from some changes than what I weigh right now.  

I have never been a person who exercises regularly and I have never liked exercising even though I do expect my body to keep up with my mind.   So this 12wbt is really challenging how I deal with exercise.  This is the beginning of week 5 and so far, this week is the first week I have exercised 5 out of the 7 days.   Up to now I have only managed 3 times per week with one of those days being a 2 hour session..    My mini mile-stone is to run in the 5km fun run on the 1st of August with a whole lot of other people including a few of my work mates.  

I looked back at the short term goals I planned before this started and laughed when I read that I had expected to run 5 km by the end of the first month.  A little presumptuous on my part.  I had no idea learning to run would be so hard.  

So, I have been really trying hard to get that training in to master my goal of running 5km without stopping.   Today I felt the mind set shift.   My 5km run in August is going to be held around the inlet in our local area, so I have been walking/jogging that as part of my training once a week.  On that track there is a 600mt board walk which I hadn't been able to run the full length of without stopping until yesterday.   It was my goal not to stop and I didn't.   My lungs were burning and I was breathing very hard when I got to the end, but my legs felt alright and it didn't take long for my heart rate to get back to normal and for my lungs to settle.    Yesterday I went with a friend who took a slightly different route to me and ended up a distance in front of me.   I found after the success of making it across the board walk I would attempt to make up the distance between the two of us, which I did.    Having someone as a moving target to get to was just as motivating as having the goal to keep going until I got to the end of the board walk.  

So today, I did it again, but this time I was on my own so I had to motivate myself.   I walked first for a while to warm up the leg muscles, because they just hurt so much if they're cold.  I got to the board walk and I was off and just kept telling myself if I could do it once, I could do it again and I did.   Today I wore my heart rate monitor and realised when it started beeping telling me my heart rate was over the high limit, I had to keep going because I hadn't made it to the end.   I realised my heart rate was high for some time and I survived.  I found I took deeper breaths to get as much oxygen in as possible and my legs didn't suffer, just my lungs burning.   So, by the time I had recovered I set off again running and when I heard that monitor go off I didn't stop again.   I was amazed at how far I went before I did stop.  Then by the time I had my next recovery and set off again, I had set my goal to run until I got back to my car.   This time while the monitor was beeping its head off and I was breathing heavy, I was also looking around at the scenery enjoying the beauty of the sun on the water and the families out walking, riding and pushing prams.   I wasn't concentrating on my "poor legs" as I used to, I was just allowing my body to do what it is now capable of doing.  

My goal is to be able to run 5 km without stopping and I don't know how long that will take, but I am not going to stop until I can.   Then I'll set another goal......  

The mind set is changing, at last.   This is only week 5, I have 7 to go......   Lucky me.....

Jenny